Always tell the truth
by AdorablyFaithful4
Summary: This story was written after reflecting on Sora and Riku's relationship. It's just how I imagined it would start out. Then there is some extra stuff from Riku's POV.
1. Chapter 1

I never know what to say.  
It's times like these, when my heart tangles and chokes within my chest, that my tongue glues itself to the roof of my mouth.  
I should say something.  
He shifts next to me, not saying anything. The silence is not awkward nor uncomfortable. It is soft and malleable, but delicate enough that even a slight whimper can harm it.  
I don't say anything.  
The waves crash and roar softly in the distance. The breeze gets caught in my hair, and playfully pulls my strands back and forth. I think I hear him sigh and I whip around to study his face. That was a mistake.  
He's not looking at me, he's staring far off into the distance, but concentrating hard on whatever he has locked onto. I sweep his features with a few glances, the prominent cheekbones, light hair, and sharp eyes translate from my eyes into my head and that's when I know I shouldn't have looked at him. Too late now.  
Maybe I should say something.  
This thought just makes me angry, at him, at myself, at the entire situation. I am both excited and confused. Happy and disappointed. I can't stand myself right now. I wasn't the one who started all of this anyway, so why should I say anything?  
I become sad and scared because I realize that he hasn't said anything either. And we've been sitting here for a long time.  
He shifts again, and I wonder if he's uncomfortable. I use the next few minutes to gather the courage to ask if he wants to head home. The sun is going down. It's starting to get slightly colder.  
He turns to me and speaks.  
"You could always say no."  
I'm surprised his words don't make me jump, they were wholly unexpected, but when he talks I always listen. He is a very quiet person and his voice can be harsh if he wants it to, but it's never been loud or jarring. I like hearing his voice, it's soothing and relaxes me.  
I think about what he said.  
"I can't do that."  
He huffs and returns to his far away target, "You act like I'm going to shun you if you give me any other answer besides yes."  
"No."  
"Yes. Look, I won't be mad," he turns back to me, we make eye contact, "I swear. All I want is one thing."  
It's my turn to look away now, I should already know what he wants, but I ask anyway, "What?"  
He says it so quietly I have to strain a little to hear him, but it was loud enough, and the two words that fell from his mouth were soft and gentle but I could tell how much emotion accompanied them.  
"The truth."  
I look at his arm nearest to me, full of strong hard muscle. He is so strong, I almost forgot that he could be vulnerable. Somewhere deep inside me, I feel smug, because I know that he is only vulnerable around me. I should be ashamed of myself.  
I should also say something.  
I sigh instead, hop down from our perch. I don't go any further than where I landed though.  
I hear seagulls in the distance, the waves still quietly roaring. When I look up at him, I see in the set of his face and posture what he thinks my decision is. Maybe he thinks that walking away is equivalent to a rejection. Technically, it is, but that was not my intention.  
He won't look at me at all, that distant target still holding him captive. While I have the chance I take a really good look at him. He has filled out nicely, and we can hardly be considered full grown adults. I keep going back to his muscles, how defined his chest, arms, and thighs are. He never once looks down at me.  
I decide that enough is enough, I need to end this torture and drama for the both of us. He opened this can of worms, now I will close it.  
"Hey."  
He looks at me, but takes his time doing it.  
"Would you ask that same question five years from now?"  
He seems confused by my question, but recovers quickly,"Yeah, this isn't something I just suddenly thought of," he looks away, "I actually never thought I would tell you."  
I nod and then ask, "How about in ten years?"  
His answer lacks any hesitation, "Yes."  
"How about ten years ago?"  
He falters but gives me another answer, "I don't think so, not because I didn't feel this way, but because I didn't want to scare you off."  
I laugh at that, because it's funny, I remember all of the bad things we did as kids, separately and together. I doubt that a confession would have been enough to scare me away. Confuse me? Absolutely. But I never started thinking about these things until the past year or two. I look up at him again. And here he was holding in emotions for ten years.  
Maybe even more.  
That stops now.  
"You have always been my friend. My absolute best friend. This will forever be the truth."  
I know he hears my words, but I see his eyes flash and blank, he's no longer looking at me, but through me. He's putting on a mask right before my eyes. I then realize that I have just witnessed hope die on his face as well. I keep going anyway.  
"It won't be easy, these things never are. Then again, I'm hardly experienced. But I know one thing for sure, I will always want you by my side. Us being best friends should never change."  
Now to give him my truth.  
"But I'm willing to change that status if you'll have me."  
I've never seen his eyes so bright. I can't tell if he's happy, excited, relieved or what. As soon as the last word leaves my mouth, he jumps down in front of me and begins to reach for me.  
I step back.  
"I'm scared."  
He stops, arms still outstretched. His eyes dim a little. I continue.  
"I'm scared that we won't work and then we will have nothing. I won't have you. But I want you to be there, with me for the rest of my life, but I am so, so scared."  
He sighs and his shoulders droop, preparing his self for rejection again, "I can't promise what will happen in the future, but one thing I have never felt so sure about in my entire life is this." He waves his hands in between us, "You have always been my goal, if you want to say no, you can say no, if you want to wait five, ten, twenty years in the future, I'll wait. I know what I want, and if I get it, I will make sure to never let it go."  
He swallows hard and I track the movement with my eyes.  
My voice is low, "You think we can do this?"  
He tries to cover up how eager he is, but I can tell anyway, "Yes."  
"Really? I've always wanted to be part of a power couple."  
He chuckles, "We can be whatever you want us to be, but if we're gonna be a power couple, you need to pick up the slack. If you fail algebra this year I'll drop you faster than a rock."  
I grimace and shove his shoulder, "Just shut up, you're supposed to help me out remember?"  
He laughs a little more, "Just ask and you shall receive."  
I roll my eyes and shuffle my feet in the sand. I'm afraid to look into his eyes.  
I know that this is a major turning point in my life. Everything will change so much after this, not only do I feel it, I just know it.  
He hasn't moved any closer to me but I feel crowded and hot even with the dropping temperature. I feel like I will soon overheat.  
He's reached his limit too.  
"Look at me." I look up and we lock eyes. It feels like it's the first time I've ever seen him before. Everything feels unreal.  
He still hasn't moved, "Is this a yes? Is that what you're telling me?"  
I was wrong before, this is the turning point. I can turn around and tear down the beach right now, and never give him an answer. I could tell him no and crush his life right now.  
Instead I stare into his eyes and tell him the truth.  
I'm pretty sure he was pleased with my answer. He reaches out with one hand and grabs my elbow. He tugs me to him and erases the distance between us. I feel his warm strong arms wrap around me and he hugs me tight. I am hesitant as I reach around his sides and slide my hands all over his back.  
It feels great, he tucks his face into the side of my neck. His breath tickles my ear and I know that this change is complete. There is no going back now.  
I feel him breathe me in, his words tickle my ear, slips through my body, and travels to my heart like a direct arrow, "Thank you."  
I don't say anything.  
I don't have to.


	2. Chapter 2

What an idiot.

He's sound asleep, softly snoring on top of my comforter. His arms are folded close to his body and he's using his hands as a pillow; legs dangling over the foot of the bed. He's still wearing his shoes.

I sigh.

Why does he do these things to me? Not just five minutes ago he was demanding snacks and drinks because his brain was going to explode from lack of nourishment. His words, not mine. I go downstairs for not even ten whole minutes, and when I return I find _this_.

I place the drinks and snacks on my desk, pushing the algebra homework we'd been working on to the side. I had been thinking about taking a break when I could tell that he was more interested in his arm hair follicles than the Pythagorean Theorem. I knew he was hungry, but I didn't know he was sleepy too.

Well, this was just great.

I want him to finish his homework, but I also want him to get some rest. With exams coming up he's been staying up late, cramming as much as he can. The worst part about it is that he isn't dumb. He's certainly lazy, but he's not stupid. He's also genuinely bad at math. I've worked with him so much on equations and rules that I can immediately tell what he will and won't struggle with. He really tries his best.

That's only one of the things I love about him.

We spend every day together but haven't really advanced our relationship. Honestly, I think it's for the best. I know if I pressured him to do a few things he'd probably freak out.

So we're going slow.

I watch as a line of drool climbs out of the corner of his mouth. I move to wipe it away with a finger.

Yes, we're going extremely slow.

But that's ok.

I caress his lips with the back of my fingers.

I know I can wait, because now I have him, and that's all that matters. And I will do anything to make sure that he is happy—

He sighs and his tongue darts out to lick his lips. He swipes it across my fingers instead.

I freeze.

It feels like I've stopped breathing.

He sighs again and smacks his lips this time. After he settles back down his mouth is slightly open, and I can just see a hint of his pink tongue.

It was so soft.

And wet.

I can't look away from the little bit of pink tongue peeking behind his lips. His breathing is slow and shallow. He has to be deep asleep.

I want to touch it again.

I bunch my hand into a fist as I groan and look away from his enticing mouth and moist tongue.

I can still feel his drool drying on my hand.

What on earth is wrong with me?

I should be making sure that he was comfortable, what type of boyfriend am I? Having thoughts like these about my significant other when they are clearly asleep.

I should leave him be and just wait until he wakes up. Then I can walk him home and have as many dirty thoughts as I want about him when he is a safe distance away from my straying hands.

I can't help but look back at his face, and his little mouth. I watch his sleeping face for a few more moments.

I see my hand reaching towards his mouth again and it almost feels like I'm watching someone else do this. I hesitate with my finger right next to his lips. He still hasn't stirred.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

I place the finger on his bottom lip.

It's soft and warm.

I do the same to the top lip.

Both lips are perfect, so soft and warm.

I focus on his slightly ajar mouth.

It's now or never, and I don't know when I'll have the next chance to do this.

My finger easily slips past his lips and makes contact with his tongue.

I catalogue all of the sensations this one act produces. Warm. Wet. Soft.

I know I should stop but I can't, and I secretly hope that he won't wake up at all so that I can do this as long as I want.

I move my finger further into his mouth. At this point his face slightly contorts and his tongue swipes across my finger again. It takes all of my strength to stay perfectly still. He settles again, although his eyebrows are still furrowed.

I'm pretty sure that this is warning enough that I should stop.

But I can't.

I put another finger in beside the other one and move them across his tongue. It's smaller than I expected it to be. I can feel myself start to get excited over this, although I'm not sure as to why. I move closer to him, my fingers still in his mouth, and try not to jar him as I inspect his face.

I move the fingers around in his mouth some more and am rewarded when he tries to close his mouth. It turns into a sucking action and I am digging my free hand into the side of the bed because I can't trust myself to touch him any more than I already am.

Just as I start to gain a little more self-control over myself, he shifts and his stomach growls.

As soon as his stomach starts to growl his eyelashes start to flutter and twitch.

I snatch my fingers out of his mouth and turn my back to him just as his eyes start to open. I hear him smack his lips a few times, probably still tasting my fingers on his tongue.

I try to get myself together while he's waking up. I didn't notice that my breathing picked up during the whole ordeal and I was currently trying to get it under control.

I looked down at my pants and balked. Apparently, I was also very visibly excited.

I hoped that he would just lay back down or something because it would take more than rearranging this for him not to notice.

"Aw man, I guess I fell asleep, huh?"

Damn.

I could hear him yawn and then groggily ask, "Hey, what time is it?"

I could either flee or weather through this. My back was still facing him, so obviously he couldn't see the evidence of my thoughts and actions, but I wasn't sure what the better option at this point was.

I decided to stay for now and see if I could calm myself down. I answered his question, "You've only been asleep for about twenty minutes."

I heard the springs in the bed groan in protest as he sat up.

"Oh, ok. That's not too bad then. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" The bed dipped as he started to crawl off of it, "Man! I'm starving!"

That was my cue. I got up and made my way over to my desk and grabbed the plate of snacks as well as a drink.

He sat on the edge of my bed rubbing his eyes, so I sat the plate down next to him and tossed the drink in his lap, "You looked tired so I let you sleep. I'm going to the restroom; help yourself to any of this stuff."

With that last line I made my exit down the hall. I could hear his confusion as I stepped out of the door though, "Oh! What? Um, ok, thanks!"

Locking myself in my bathroom I sighed against the back of the door and caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror.

My cheeks were blazing.

"Ugh, I'm such an idiot."


End file.
